ROTARY LUNCHEON: David Risher, Worldreader

In his talk, Non-Profit Muscle​, David Risher, Chief Executive and co-founder of Wordreader, will talk about how this relatively small non-profit organization has leveraged relationships with huge multi-national corporations to bring free digital books and new educational opportunities to millions of people across Africa and India.

David has led educational and large-scale technological advancement for over two decades. As general manager at Microsoft, he helped develop and market Microsoft’s first desktop database products and created some of the company’s first Internet-based services. As Amazon’s Senior Vice President for Retail, he grew the company from $16 million to $4 billion in sales and drove the company to its first profitable quarter.

Following his passion for education, David designed and taught “Competing on the Internet” at the University of Washington's Foster School of Business, where he was voted Professor of the Year by his students. He has served as Board Chair at Barcelona's Benjamin Franklin International School, was an early Trustee of the Seattle Girl’s School. In addition to leading Worldreader and serving on its Board, he is a member of the ESADE Business School’s International Advisory Board and Princeton University’s Comparative Literature Advisory Council. 

David graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in Comparative Literature focused on 20th century fiction, and was awarded an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is a  Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year Awardee, a Draper Richards Kaplan social entrepreneur, an invited member of the Clinton Global Initiative, and a Microsoft Alumni Foundation Integral Fellow.

David speaks four languages and is an avid long-distance cyclist. On reading, David says: “Reading is our only true vaccine against ignorance and obsolescence. Through it, we become our best selves."

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This is a weekly membership meeting for The Rotary Club of San Francisco, open to all Rotarians, visiting Rotarians, prospective members and guests.

Each luncheon meeting includes three-course lunch from Scala's Bistro. Individual lunch tickets are $40, or purchase a book of four tickets for the discounted price of $145. Cash, check and credit card payment options available. Tickets available for purchase at the door.

Members and guests can RSVP using the links at the top left corner of this page.